Building world peace, locally
Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir
President of the nonprofit High Atlas Foundation which does
development work in Morocco
The condition of mutually enforcing bottom-up social development
movements and enabling top-down laws, policies and treaties, assist
ever more people and groups in coming-together to achieve the
change they seek.
It should be clear that if peace is to exist among humanity it is
reflected in local circumstances and local conditions. After all,
we as people directly experience the degrees of peace in society,
and we affect its presence by our individual and group
behavior.
For peace to thrive at the communal level, an age-old paradox needs
to be reconciled, namely that the interests of both individuals and
groups are not antagonistic, where one is achieved at the expense
of the other, but instead are interwoven and satisfied through
participatory planning methods and project implementation.
These development methods require third party facilitation, firstly
to draw out the perceptions and priorities of the local
participants, including young and old, women and men, those who
have and those who have less, and secondly to build partnerships
with local government, civil and business agencies.
The development projects that emerge from this democratic process
assist local people in two ways - by helping to work through their
differences (incorporating conflict management approaches), and
advancing their socio-economic and environmental goals.
The projects work against people experiencing alienation because
they no longer devote their days to activities from which they do
not gain justifiable benefits and are therefore inconsistent with
their fundamental interests. Projects promote peace through meeting
people's self-determined needs while satisfying community
development objectives. Social and personal needs having been met
in this way, through popular participation in community
development, peace is given a framework most favorable to its
growth and scaling up.
In the context of national and international conflicts, what is
interesting is that the same methodology still applies, but can
occur among representatives and leaders of the groups in conflict.
The process, however, does not begin with - but merges into - joint
development planning. At the outset, there needs to be an
expression of past experiences and difficulties followed by an
acknowledgement of those occurrences and, where appropriate, an
apology. This kind of confidence-building dialogue must, moreover,
be carried out in a spirit of reconciliation.
Thus conditions favorable to peace are created whereby the parties
can coexist and reap tangible benefits from their mutual contact.
Crucially, in order to promote actual peace, all of this must
result in sustainable development for all the people.
Are there Sunnis and Shi'ites whose communities are side by side or
are integrated, where these processes could build unity and avoid
spiraling of distrust?
Can Israelis and Palestinians meet together and express what they
must, acknowledge what they must and advance human development that
enables not only Palestinian political but also economic
independence?
Can neighbors who are not in conflict but nevertheless are not in
communication meet together in a meaningful way to forge an action
plan and thereby advance their local development?
The net result of such localized occurrences is the spreading of
the umbrella of peace over ever-larger geographical areas -
federating upwards. At the same time, national and global leaders
who establish charters that actively encourage and necessitate
community meetings and sub-national development based on the
popular common will, prepare the way for peaceful conditions on the
ground from their top-level positions of responsibility.
Conducive macro policies promote civil society, experiential
learning and participatory development training. Governments,
responsible corporations and donors should have funding programs so
designed that support the range of educational, health, economic
and environmental initiatives that are locally prioritized - with
the main criteria being that they are community-identified and
driven.
True peace - the kind that steers our present and future and that
responds to our hearts' calling - therefore lies in the hands of
all.